Finding Perfection In Shades of Grey
by ironyheartsap
Summary: Flock search for Itex's newest,best experiment, years in the making:a perfect human. But what happens when they find her? What happen when Itex realizes she is no longer in thier control? The Flock plus one OC; OC won't be competing with Max summary insid
1. Summary&Short Note&Prolouge

**Summary:**

It has been over a year since the Flock were thrown back into the dangerous world of Itex. Over a year on the run has worn them out. After the whole Antartica thing, things were fairly quiet. The Flock took a well deserved break for awhile, since Max hadn't heard anything from her Voice about Itex. A few flyboys here and there, but nothing too serious. But then one day the Voice decides to pay a visit, and thier vacation is abruptly ended. Max must find "the girl"... their best experiment years in the making. Max and the Flock race to find this girl, but what happens when they do? To the average eye this girl seems like a normal, one-hundred percent human. But on her sixteenth birthday, she will change into the experiment Itex wanted: a perfect human. Does this girl know anything about her origins, or is she really as innocent as she appears? And what powers and abilities will this girl have? Max has to decide if she should help the girl or not. Helping the girl would bring the full wrath of Itex upon the Flock, and yet not helping the girl could be disastrous for the world. The lines between good and bad grow thin. Is doing something bad for the greater good still bad? The rules governing good and evil no longer seem to apply... All that is left are the shades of grey.

**[Hopefully the summary was good... I didn't want to give anything away. But to clear things, the Flock are now all a year older (give or take a month or two). The new character I added is named Zanna, short for Susanna. I don't remember if I read it somewhere or just thought of it, but the name stuck. The prologue is from Zanna's perspective at the end of the story. I started writing it, and I don't know what happened, but it turned kind of dark. But I guess it's reasonable to think that Zanna's perspective on life among other things would be a little tainted after everything. For those of you who are worrying about conflict between Max and Zanna, there isn't going to be much. Maybe a little, but only because Max doesn't trust Zanna. But Zanna isn't taking Max's place or anything, she has no wish to become the leader of the Flock or anything. Of course there will be romance. I am one of those people who pair Max and Fang together, so somewhere in the story I'll think of something for the two to admit thier feelings etc. Romance for Zanna will be no less dramatic; actually it might be more dramatic later on. But not soap opera dramatic. I am hoping for Zanna to get along with the Flock, or at least to begin with. I have the basic story line in my head, but the wheels in my brain are still turning. Hopefully you'll enjoy this...)**

_**Prologue:**_

It is funny to look back, you know? Things that were once all you cared about held no importance to you any longer. Relationships changed, people changed, _I_ changed. I definitely changed. I still was trying to figure out if that was good or bad. Was it better to be the semi-innocent teenager who cared about what outfit she was going to wear tomorrow, or the battle ridden teenager who wasn't even truly human? Who at times, didn't know where her next meal would be? Who had saw people die in many horrible ways? Who had been tortured so badly death already had one foot in the door? Who had bloodied her own hands? Who knew the terrible secrets of the world? Who saw the things that went bump in the night? Who held secrets- dark, terrible secrets that she imagined were slowly eating her away, until she became nothing?

Then again, it was difficult to look to deep into the past. It was like looking into somebody else's life. It was like dreaming, a dream that you had dreamt time and time again. And if you looked too deep into the pools of the past, you'd find yourself unable to escape.

Good or bad… Black or white… but nobody ever mentioned the shades of grey, the things in between the bold lines that defined each synonym. Perhaps I am a shade of grey. Maybe everybody lives in the shades of grey. Does anyone truly live definitely in the black or white areas?

I shook my head. I shouldn't be so pessimistic. Good things had come out of my ordeal. I made friends; real, true friends who had stayed with me through thick and thin, as the saying goes. I discovered my powers. I discovered who I am. Who I could be. I helped save the world.

It doesn't really matter anymore if everything that I am about to tell you was for good or for bad. It's history. Part of the past. A memory. Even so, I feel the need to just let it out or something. You know that feeling? Maybe you just want to say it, scream it, draw it, write it, paint it, or sing it. You want to get it off your chest. What the reasons Max and the rest of the Flock had of telling our story, I am not quite sure. But that's not really important, is it?

So I step into the past, hand and hand with good friends…

**Reviews are greatly appreciated... :)**


	2. Chicago

**[Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does. The plot is mine, though. Obviously. I did created these two new characters. As it says all fancy and official in those books, the characters are purely fictional and are in no way related to any person, living or dead. I just always wanted to say that. (I'm now smiling like a fool, just in case you were wondering. But if you weren't, oh well.)]**

_**Chapter One**_

_(Max's POV)_

It was a beautiful clear night, the kind of night where you could see practically every star in the sky. As if a child had just taken a glitter-glue-stick (like the ones from Crayola) and painted bright dots all over the night sky. Looking at the night sky really made a person think. Hard to think that every single one of those teensy-winsy stars were flaming hot balls of gas millions of light-years away. The Earth was tiny in comparison to the rest of the universe, like the view of a person looking at an ant at the top of the Sears Tower. It was amazing, really. To think that we were just as tiny as ants. It really made you think of things in a whole-grand-scheme-of-things-kinda-way. Or, say, like you weren't mutant freaks running for your life from mad scientists.

Lost? For those new on the whole "Amazing Adventures of Max and Co.", I'll give you a _brief_ summary of our freakish lives. I mean, come on, I don't have all night! Besides, I really don't feel like explaining everything to you newbies.

Okay, my name's Max. I don't really know what my "real" name is, so I chose one myself, so did the rest of my friends for that matter. Maximum Ride is the name I chose for myself oh-so-long-ago. But it's a bit of a mouthful. In certain situations where the time is of the essence (like when someone's telling you to duck because a bomb's gonna go off), _Maximum Ride_ just takes too long. So I go by Max for short. The rest of my friends: there's Angel, the Gasman (his digestive system is _wacked_ up!), Nudge, Iggy, and Fang. We call ourselves "The Flock" for reasons that will soon become clear to you. I'm the leader, 'cause I'm the oldest.

Back to the whole "mutant freaks running for our lives from mad scientists" bit- it's kinda important. The six of us were part of an "experiment" where some mad scientists (think Frankenstein mad) decided to play around with human and avian (bird) DNA. The result? Us. Ninety-eight percent human and two percent bird. Two percent may not seem like much- it's only what, two cents out of a dollar? I don't know for sure, our education has been a bit sketchy. Just thank God for television and google or else we wouldn't know nutin'. But we may not be book smart, but we are definitely street smart.

But back to the whole two percent bird part… We have wings. Yup. Wings. Just like birds. It's kind of cool when I think about it, I mean we can just get up and _go _whenever we want. It's totally free feeling. Freedom. That was something none of us had when we were little, back at the School. The School was our prison for years. We were nothing more than some experiments to the whitecoats (that's what we called the scientists). We were treated like lab rats; we were kept in freaking bird cages! They did experiments on us, since we were special, I mean besides the wings. Our bodies had to be different than regular human ones in order to fly. So pretty much every part of us is somehow altered somehow; and the whitecoats experimented on all of those differences. I'll spare you the details since I'm being brief and all, but the short story is we escaped. For a few years we lived semi-normally. I didn't even know if it was possible for us six to "live normally". Then Angel was taken, and since then the Flock and I have been on the run. For the most part we've done okay. I mean, there were a _few_ close calls. But in the end we always beat 'em.

_Head to Chicago, Max. _Yup. That's my muy bueno annoying Voice in my head. What- you don't have one? Come on, it's this season's must have! Voices are flying off the shelves at Wal-Mart this year for the holidays! Admission to a psychiatric center costs extra. But then remembered... I haven't heard from the Voice since the whole Antartica thing. I was wondering what was so important for him to break the whole silent treatment thing.

_Very funny, Max. You and the flock _must_ head to Chicago._ Chicago, what's so important about Chicago? I asked the voice. We were in Kentucky, so a trip to the Windy City wouldn't take very long.

_There is a girl in Chicago. She is important to Itex's latest plans. You must get to her. _A bunch of sarcastic remarks flowed through my head, but I ignored them. I was curious. So sue me- who wouldn't be if a Voice in your head told you to find some girl in Chicago that was part of the evil-take-over-the-world crazed cooperation's latest scheme? The group we now knew was Itex had big plans for the world; world domination big. Bit ambitious, don't you think? And the School and Itex were related. I mean come on; the two things the Devil himself probably paid attention to. Of course the School and Itex were related. But, that through the Flock right in there with the School and Itex.

And the Flock and I were probably pretty high on Itex's and the School's enemy list. We've messed up a couple of their plans, bested their "best" experiments, and outsmarted the grownups running the whole operation. So, overall, the Flock and especially me will probably be facing their wrath one day or another. But not like we hadn't faced it before.

I paused in my thinking for a moment. What was their plan for us now? Was it "expire" (just a fancy way of saying "kill") us? Or was it to capture us and to do unthinkable experiments on us? Or was it to capture us and "sell" us as weapons? (Yes, they have tried that before. It didn't work out so well for them, though.)

_They are regrouping for the moment. _Regrouping? Regrouping is good… it will give us a chance to regroup. _Yes, but they are also concentrating on one of their most secret projects._ Most secret projects? What we weren't most secret enough for them? I wasn't asking the Voice those questions, I knew it wouldn't answer if I did. Then I remembered how the Voice said something about a girl. A girl, from Chicago. Could there be any relation between the two?

_Yes, Max. Very good._ Max could practically feel the voice smiling. Okay, so what was so special about this girl? Was she "created" by the School? Was she in the School? _I cannot tell you much now, Max. _Max groaned. But truthfully, she wasn't surprised. The Voice never gave straightforward answers with all the information she needed to know. _I beg to disagree. I cannot tell you more under these circumstances. You must get to the girl, Max._ Max was still hesitant. She liked it around here. It was warm. And the Flock definitely deserved a brake. Besides, what would she do with this girl? Drop her off somewhere? Rescue her from the School? Make her part of the Flock? Max shook her head. She just didn't understand why this girl was so important.

_I can only tell you this, Max. She is a project twenty eight years in the making. She was created by Itex almost sixteen years ago. Her sixteenth birthday is approaching. When she turns sixteen, she will change, she will become a perfect human._ A perfect human? What was that supposed to mean? What, like an Omega II? Like the first worked out so well! Besides, no human could ever be perfect…. that's what makes us human!

_I agree, Max. But have already told you too much. You must find the girl. Leave this morning when the rest of the Flock wake up. _Max sighed. She knew that they were going to have to find this girl. I had a feeling I was gonna regret it, but she knew she had to. If somehow this girl was part of Itex's plans of world domination or something, Max had to stop it.

A face appeared in my mind. It was a girl, probably in her mid teens. Her hair was a beautiful mixture of blonde, red, and brown. A strawberry blonde might be an appropriate name for the hair color. Her hair went to right below her shoulders. Her hair was thick with waves throughout it. It seemed bouncy- the kind of hair you see in shampoo commercials. Her nose was soft and kind of defined. A radiant smile was on her lips, with her teeth perfectly straight and white. The eyes, though, were the most impressive part of her face. It was difficult to attribute a color to her eyes. I suppose you could say her eyes were a violet color, but still wouldn't exactly fit.

I surveyed the face in her mind. I was positive I never had seen anybody who resembled the person portrayed in her mind. I knew, though, without asking the Voice, that the face I had seen was the girl.

I glanced at her watch. It was around half past three in the morning. I stepped over numerous limbs to get to Fang. It was his turn to finish the watch. I managed to make her way towards Fang without waking anybody else up. I said softly, "Fang? It's your turn to take watch." Within moments Fang was up, fully alert. He nodded, and glanced at his watch.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier," Fang said just slightly softer than usual. His voice was usually quiet, but it was just a little more quiet since the rest of the Flock was sleeping. Fang's watch was supposed to start an hour ago.

I was already making my way to the dying fire. We had started it last night; by the break of dawn there wouldn't be any flames left. I heard Fang following me. Good, I needed to talk to Fang about what the Voice told me. And I didn't want to exactly go up tell him about it. Things were becoming almost awkward between Fang and me. I sat down on the ground, my knees to my chest. Fang came by and sat right next to me.

"What's up?" Fang asked me. I sighed. Where to start?

"I had a lengthy conversation with the Voice tonight," I said. I figured it was as good as a place to start as any. I paused for a moment. Fang said nothing, although I didn't expect him to. He nodded, though, acknowledging that he had heard me. "It said to go to Chicago. There's a girl there that is apparently part of Itex's latest take-over-the-world plans."

Again, I didn't expect Fang to actually say anything. But he surprised me. "So what about this girl?"

"I'm not quite sure; the Voice wouldn't tell me much. It's just that she was created by Itex to become the perfect human. But I don't understand the whole perfect human thing. They've tried it. It didn't work out so well."

Fang flashed one of his rare smiles at me. "It almost worked out well enough…" Fang said. "If it weren't for me and the rest of the guys you girls would have been toast, if you forgot."

"We were handling the situation fine by ourselves! I beat Omega and Nudge and Angel had everything else under control," I said, rolling my eyes. I knew when Fang came and "rescued" us from Itex in Europe I would never live it down. I was right.

"Uh-huh. It sure sounded like you guys had everything under control," Fang teased. I just ignored him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of a response. "'Sides, if you hadn't figured out Omega's weakness with his eyes, you would definitely have needed our help."

I winced at the last part. Fang was right. I changed my tone from playful to serious. "You're right, Fang. If I hadn't discovered that Omega couldn't track objects well, then I probably would have lost." It felt weird, me admitting that I could have lost. I was supposed to be Super Max, for goodness sakes! But here I was admitting that I almost lost! I pushed those thoughts out of my head. Because it was true- I pretty much got lucky with Omega. Would I get lucky again, when facing Itex's newest creation? I couldn't afford to gamble on luck, there was just too much at stake…

For a moment, an expression flashed passed Fang's face. But it was so quick I wasn't sure if I had just imagined it or not. "Max, I'm sorry…." Fang said softly. "I didn't mean it, you know that? I probably couldn't have done any better than you did."

I was stunned. Did Fang just say that he couldn't have done any better with Omega than I did? Fang was usually like a rock; showing no emotion at all. To sincerely apologize, I mean, wow. At first I wasn't sure how to respond.

I shook my head. "It fine, Fang. We were just joking." I gave a wry smile, and continued, "But I think that's why we have to find this girl. If Itex makes a bunch more "perfect humans" more powerful than Omega…" I let my voice trail off. What should I say? We would be dead? Captured? Tortured? Experimented on? Worse?

"I know," Fang said.

I nodded. "To Chicago we go then."

"To Chicago."

**I chose Chicago because I live near there and I think it's one of the greatest cities in the world. Plus it was closer to their location than LA, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid, or other places I thought of. Plus I can describe Chicago with ease, unlike the other cities. My original plan to send them to some small town, but I didn't know of one, and I couldn't find one. And I couldn't think of a small town name besides the generic names. So I decided to use Chicago, the Windy City, home of the Cubs/Sox and the Bears. Oh, and the whole twenty-eight year thing, I didn't chose the number randomly. Twenty-eight is a perfect number, the first after six. A perfect number is a number whose factors equal its own. So the factors of twenty-eight are one, two, four, seven, and fourteen. Which all equal twenty-eight. So I figured with the whole "perfect" human thing, I should include a perfect number. My apologizes for those of you who aren't math lovers… but I couldn't help but explain myself!**

_(Another person's POV- can you guess who???)_

The bells rang glaringly loud, signaling the end of the school day. I grabbed my books and quickly headed towards the door. It's now officially the weekend, and I did not want to waste a minute of it.

"See ya, Mr. B.!" I exclaimed to my history teacher as I walked out the door. I wasn't one of those teacher's pets- gosh, no! But I did like to have a good bond with the teachers. It never hurt. Besides, if I was worried about it somehow "hurting" my social life, I didn't need to worry. I was one of the most popular girls in the sophomore class.

How? I'm not quite sure. It seems people just seem to genuinely like me. It probably doesn't hurt that I am usually a pretty nice person (but of course my opinion is biased). I try to compliment people when I see something they are wearing that I like, or help when I can. Plus, my interests lay scrambled on a variety of areas. I was pretty well rounded in my activities, I thought. Like, when I was watching TV on a day when I had nothing else really to do (although that rarely happened), I would flip between the stations all the time. I was an avid channel flipper- although there was no say to what I would land on. Perhaps I would stop on the History Channel and watch a little bit of a program about some dead civilization (I actually thought it was interesting), or HBO and watch a cool car-chase move, or Discovery Channel with Mythbusters (they always blew something up! I don't know, but something about that I just loved!), or land on some rerun of America's Next Top Model, or the Science Channel about sciencey-things (I just loved SciQu Sundays! I thought the name was adorable… get it? Science IQ? You probably got it, but it took me a bit to get it so I wanted to make sure.), or Lifetime to watch some sad sob story, or even Cartoon Network to watch (what else) cartoons (I loved Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo). And those were just some of the channels I might watch, but I am not going to bore you with the rest of my television interests.

I approached my locker, grabbed my Coach messenger bag and tossed all the books I would need this weekend in it. I grabbed my jacket; it was getting chilly out now. I closed my locker door to find a guy waiting patiently, leaning against the rest of the lockers.

"Surprise, Zanna!" said the guy with an adorable smile on his face. He was talking to me, if you're wondering. My name's Zanna. Odd name, huh? It's not really my full name, that's Susanna. But I think Susanna is _so _boring. So old-school. So for years I have been known as Zanna to everyone. I like it much better, don't you?

"Zane!" I said, since Zane is the name of the cute guy who happens to be my boyfriend. His hair was blondish-brown in color, with parts naturally falling over his beautiful green eyes. I have always wanted green eyes, but instead my eyes are a purplish color. But better to look into somebody's green eyes that to have those green eyes myself, I suppose. Zane is pretty tall, maybe around six one or so; which is good, since I'm pretty tall myself. "What are you doing here? I thought you had football practice after school today!" Yes, Zane is football player. That of course, would make me a cheerleader. But we're not the jerky kind of football/cheerleader like you see in movies, although some of our "friends" are. I put quotations, which I really love to use (they're so fun!) around friends because if it wasn't for the whole football/cheerleading thing Zane and I would have been friends with most of them.

"Cancelled," Zane said simply. Depending on his mood, Zane could either be really talkative or barely say anything at all. I nodded, waiting for Zane to go on and explain. "Coach Simmons had a family emergency or something." He shrugged. "But it's cancelled for today, anyways."

"A family emergency" I said, more to myself than to Zane. "Maybe I should make like cookies or something for him. What do you think?" I asked Zane looking up into his eyes. We were heading towards the school exit.

"I think…" Zane began, smiling at me. "I think that my girlfriend's the sweetest person on earth to think of baking cookies for a miserable football coach who never truly outgrew being a high school jock and is stuck in his glory years."

"You don't think Coach Simmons is that bad, do you?" I asked Zane. Yes, he and the rest of the team would complain about their coach often enough, but Zanna thought that they didn't really hate him.

Zane smiled again. "Nah, Coach isn't really that bad. Just tough, you know?" I nodded, and Zane added, "But I think Coach Simmons would love a batch of your cookies. Anyone would."

"Good, I'll make some for him later on," I said. I must say that I make an awesome batch of chocolate chip cookies. Everybody loves them. I noticed the hint hint in Zane's last few sentences. "I'll make some extra for you too, okay?"

"That would be great," Zane said, while opening the door for me. He was such a gentleman! I liked that a lot. As soon as I got outside I put on my jacket. It was a little cooler outside than it had been inside. But the air smelt wonderfully fresh. I took in a deep breath of Autumn air.

"I love Autumn, don't you?" I said to Zane. "The leaves falling of the trees, the end of summer, the beginning of winter. It's a season of change. It makes you feel like you change, too. If you wanted to." A serene smile was on my face. I would have liked to stay for just a little bit longer, here. Zane, me, and Mr. Autumn.

I looked a Zane. I couldn't quite decipher his expression, but I could tell something was wrong. "What's the matter?" I asked Zane.

Zane seemed to snap back into reality. He shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing at all." I could still tell something was wrong, though.

"Come on, you could tell me," I said soothingly, wrapping my arm around his neck. Zane didn't say anything. "I won't tease, you. I promise," I added. Zane and I would tease each other a lot, just like little kids in grade school. It was fun, though, and all good natured.

Zane sighed, and said softly, "It's just what you said about the trees. About change."

Oh. "I was kind of talking to myself, Zane. I definitely wasn't talking to you. You don't need to change anything about you," I told him.

Zane glanced at me, saying, "I know you weren't talking about me." Then Zane redirected his gaze to something in the distance. I didn't know what, for I my attention was still on Zane. "Maybe I want me to change." Zane said that so softly, I almost didn't hear him. Almost. But how could I respond to that?

After a awkward minute or two, Zane seemed to snap out of whatever was making him so gloomy. He smiled at me, "Come on, I'll walk you home." Zane didn't mention anything from before, so I didn't either. Zane held out his hand, I smiled, and took his hand, and we started walking towards my house.

Suddenly, Zane stopped. "I forgot something at school, Zanna," he said. His voice was a little off, I didn't pay much attention to that. What Zane said was more important… He never forgot things. Especially about school. He was like genius smart, or at least smart enough to probably have graduated early last year.

"What?" I asked Zane, since I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I'm sorry," Zane said, kissing me on the cheek.

"I could come back with you," I said, and then I quickly added, "it wouldn't be a big deal. Honestly."

"Nah," Zane said, already walking back towards the school. He looked back at me while he said, "I'll just call you later. We still need to talk." Zane quickened his pace, and soon he had turned the corner, and was out of sight. I realized I was just standing there. I started heading home, thinking.

What was with Zane? Why would he leave so suddenly? And why would he lie about why he had to leave? I was sure he was lying, I knew Zane well by now. And what in the world does he need to talk about? He has been mentioning it for awhile, especially lately.

I was still in deep thought when I noticed a boy and a girl around our age, and a little girl around eight or so. They were heading towards me. I didn't recognize any of them. I quickly looked around me; there was no one else on this block today. That in itself was unusual. I considered turning around, and finding Zane. But that would be silly. What would these three kids want with me? It was probably purely coincidental that I would be on a street with two teenagers and a little kid on the same side of the sidewalk head towards me. Yes, it's a coincidence, I thought rationally. Besides, if (and I mentally stressed the whole "if" thing), something were to happen, I was trained fairly well in defense (and offensive too, but that was for fun).

Before I knew it, I stopped. I was only a foot or two away from those other kids. I began to go around them, but then the older girl (who had awesome blond highlights, I should add) said something, and I stopped in my tracks.

"Hey, it's Zanna right?" she asked me. How did she know my name? Better yet, how did she know me and where I was? The whole coincidental thing was starting to sound less and less reasonable. Great. I wasn't in the mood for trouble, or to talk, or to do whatever they wanted. I wanted to get home, work on home work, maybe make some of my cookies for Coach Simmons, and then call Zane. Especially call Zane.

"So what's up, and who are you?" I asked the older girl. She seemed to be the kind of person who took charge. Maybe she was the leader of this little scheme, whatever it was. Tension was growing inside me, though.

I'm Max," the older girl said, "That's Angel, and that's Fang." She pointed to the little girl and then to the guy, who hadn't said a word or moved at all since they have met.

"Okay….Max….." I began. "What's going on?" I decided to be blunt and just put it out there. No need to waste time on pleasantries. Besides, I had quite a few questions. So I decided to go general and see where it got me. I was on guard, though. My cell was in my pocket, so I could reach it easily if it turned out I was in trouble.

"We better find a place to sit down," Max said. "We have _a lot_ of stuff to tell you."

**Okay... I hope you like it. This is my first FanFic. I am not quite sure what to think about it. But I am already working on the next chapter. I gotta go now though, I am using my sisters laptop since I'm being too lazy to go get mine, and know she's whining because I am on it. And my other my sister is on the Sims 2 making a crazy cat lady family. It was my idea. The last name is really Old Crazy Cat Lady Family. And the old lady had like face paint like a cat's and for formal dress a weird Victorian style dress... She's not only a old crazy cat lady, she's the queen of crazy cat ladies! It was my twisted idea. When my mom heard, she said I must have been dropped on my head as a baby and I was stop-eating-the-glue kind of special. What a wonderful relationship we have to speak what's on or mind. Anyways, reviews are greatly appreciated.... (I might ask my sister to let you adopt one of her crazy cats if you do... Come on, who doesn't want to be a crazy cat lady or a crazy cat guy?)**


	3. The Girl

Chapter Two

_Max's POV_

We arrived in some suburb of Chicago about half past two. It was a Friday afternoon. I normally don't always keep up with the dates the way you normal people do, but it was obvious. The traffic was horrible, and there were little kids running out of their schools with the excitement that was only reserved for weekends. It was still too early for the older kids to get out of school, so I didn't have to keep both eyes on the lookout for the girl.

It was actually kind of fun, in a you-have-to-find-a-girl-to-keep-an-evil-company-from-taking-over-the-world kind of way. I was able to watch all those kids, imagining the stupid schedules they must keep. I was actually glad to be a mutant girl with wings on the run for once; because if I wasn't, I would have just been one of those faces in the crowd. A nobody, stuck in classes, with silly worries, and unneeded drama.

Of course, though, whenever you find something you can't have, you find a way of making it sound like you don't/wouldn't want it. So deep inside, I realized I was jealous of those sneezing, nose picking kids. Because they had a normal life. They didn't need to worry about waking up and finding yourself in a cage. They didn't need to worry about when their next meal was going to be. They didn't need to worry about non-imaginary creatures following you, waiting for the opportune moment to take you out. They didn't need to worry about keeping their family safe. They didn't need to worry about saving the world.

I was surprised by those thoughts. Wow, I was definitely getting in tune with the inner me. But as soon as those thoughts surfaced, I pushed them deep down into my mind again. I didn't have time to think of those things.

A few, uneventful minutes later, the Voice told me to head towards some address. I thought about saying something, but decided against it. It wasn't worth it. And besides, we had no other leads on this girl, so I decided it was best to listen to the Voice on this matter. I added the last part to my thoughts so the Voice wouldn't say anything cocky or something.

So now we are walking, heading to a place I am not quite sure of. It was just Fang, Angel, and me. We decided that we would look too out of place if all six of us went (not to mention Total). I was going to go by myself, but Fang insisted that he'd come with, in case there was trouble. I couldn't argue; because if a bunch of Erasers or Flyboys or something snuck up on me, I wasn't sure if I would be able to fight my way out of it. Everyone else stated why they should come too, but in the end Angel was the only other person besides Fang and me to go. It made sense to let Angel come; she would notice if anyone had any School-related thoughts (I mean thoughts related to _the_ School, not some place you go to learn), and if we met the girl or anyone else out of the ordinary, Angel could tell us if they are a threat or not. Besides, if we get into trouble, especially with these non-genetically-enhanced humans, Angel could just use her mind to stop the fight or whatever.

So that's how I found myself walking with Fang and Angel, while the rest of the flock were off being inconspicuous (I really hoped they were, I did remind Iggy at least twice not to use any bombs unless it was an emergency). We had prepared a cover story, just in case. Fang and I were friends who were picking up my little sister from school. If we ran into anybody too inquisitive, Angel would take over. But it had been quiet, no one stopped and looked at us, no one stared at us. And Angel hadn't noticed anything in anyone's thoughts that would somehow relate to Itex or the School.

I was getting anxious. We hadn't found any clues, or nothing else to lead us in some direction. We were sitting ducks in an enemy's pond. If something Itex-related really was here, it would stand to reason it would be protected. Protected by people, creatures, and/or things that would gladly capture us, sell us, torture us, tear us limb from limb, or just flat out kill us. So no wonder I was a little anxious. Then Angel stopped, followed by Fang and me.

_Max, there are two people coming around this street. _Angel said in my mind. Two? The last few blocks have been much more crowded… or more than just two people anyway. Coincidence?

_Anything else?_ I mentally asked Angel.

_Yes, I can't get into the thoughts of one of them. _Angel told me.

I was surprised. There had been a few people that Angel couldn't get into their heads, but they were all School related. So was this person working for the School, or some fluke?

_I can't tell. But he's younger than any of the Whitecoats. _Angel stopped for a minute. _Wait, he's turning around. He's now going in the opposite direction of us._

_What about the other person with him?_ I asked Angel.

_She's still headed this way… _was Angel's reply.

_Okay, Angel. Tell Fang that we may have something here. _ I felt my body tense up just slightly more than usual. We could be walking into a trap; that I knew. And I hated it. With a deep breath, I started around the corner, with Fang and Angel right beside me.

Immediately something familiar caught my eye. With my raptor-like vision, I was able to look closer. And I recognized it at once. It was the girl.

_Zanna's POV_

I was still walking towards my house, absorbed in thought. What was with Zane? Why would he leave so suddenly? And why would he lie about why he had to leave? I was sure he was lying, I knew Zane well by now. And what in the world does he need to talk about? He has been mentioning it for awhile, especially lately.

I was still in deep thought when I noticed a boy and a girl around our age, and a little girl around eight or so. They were heading towards me. I didn't recognize any of them. I quickly looked around me; there was no one else on this block today. That in itself was unusual. I considered turning around, and finding Zane. But that would be silly. What would these three kids want with me? It was probably purely coincidental that I would be on a street with two teenagers and a little kid on the same side of the sidewalk head towards me. Yes, it's a coincidence, I thought rationally. Besides, if (and I mentally stressed the whole "if" thing), something were to happen, I was trained fairly well in self defense.

Before I knew it, I stopped. I was only a foot or two away from those other kids. I began to go around them, but then the older girl (who had awesome blond highlights, I should add) said something, and I stopped in my tracks.

"Hey, it's Zanna right?" she asked me. How did she know my name? Better yet, how did she know me and where I was? The whole coincidental thing was starting to sound less and less reasonable. Great. I wasn't in the mood for trouble, or to talk, or to do whatever they wanted. I wanted to get home, work on home work, maybe make some of my cookies for Coach Simmons, and then call Zane. Especially call Zane.

"What if I am?" I asked the older girl, sounding braver than I felt. She seemed to be the kind of person who took charge. Maybe she was the leader of this little scheme, whatever it was. Tension was growing inside me, though.

"I'm Max," the older girl said, "That's Angel, and that's Fang." She pointed to the little girl and then to the guy, who hadn't said a word or moved at all since they have met.

"Okay….Max….." I began. "What's going on?" I decided to be blunt and just put it out there. No need to waste time on pleasantries. Besides, I had quite a few questions. So I decided to go general and see where it got me. I was on guard, though. My cell was in my pocket, so I could reach it easily if it turned out I was in trouble.

"We better find a place to sit down," Max said. "We have _a lot_ of stuff to tell you."


	4. Living a Lie

**Chapter Three**

_Zanna's POV_

I walked into my house, absentmindedly putting my jacket on the coat hanger and dropping my bag on the ground. I went to the fridge and grabbed an apple and attempted to start on homework.

I looked at my math homework, the letters and numbers looking like gibberish. Normally, I am pretty good at math (as well as just about every other subject), but today my mind was elsewhere. I recalled the conversation I had held earlier with that girl, Max, and the other two people with her. What were their names? Angel, that was the little girl's name, but the guy's name still escaped me. I remembered it was unusual, even by my standards. Fang. That was it. But their names were probably the most the least unusual part of our conversation.

I recalled everything they told me. That this company called Itex (a name I recognize but can't quite place) has done experiments. Experiments with DNA. On humans. That Itex had created viable human hybrids with other species; namely birds and wolves. I thought it was a joke at first, and I am still not sure if it is. Come on, a person part bird part human? It sounded like a mad scientists delusions, not something actually credible. But that wasn't the oddest part of the conversation.

They thought _I_ was an experiment of Itex. Max was going to go into more detail, but I cut her off. It was okay when they were telling me their delusions, but when their delusions included me; well, that's where I drew the line. But the words spoken when I left still chilled my bones.

_(Flashback)_

"_This is ridiculous," I finally said. There were no mad scientists experimenting with DNA. I was listening before, but when their story started to involve me, I had enough. I was a regular human being, no genetically enhanced DNA or anything like that._

_"I know it sounds crazy," Max said, looking slightly annoyed, "but it _is _true."_

_"Yeah, and pigs fly," I said, walking away._

_"Well actually..." Max started before I could cut her off._

"_No. No. I do not want to hear about it," I said, getting 'tweed off. I knew Max was going to say something about scientists playing with pig and bird DNA. If this was a joke, it was a really bad one._

"_Wait," the guy named Fang said. I stopped. He had only spoken a word or two so far. I was just about to just ignore him and continue home, but he spoke again. "This is insane, believe me, I know. But you have to listen."_

_I spun around, looking him in the eyes. "I don't have to listen," I said icily. "I was playing around with your little joke before, but not anymore." I was irate; I hated it when people told me what to do. I don't know why, but that is one thing that absolutely bothers me. Fang just stared at me, his face still expressionless._

"_Okay, you don't have to listen, but you really should," Fang continued in placating tone._

_"Give me one reason," I said with my eyes narrowed. A part of me wanted just wanted to go home and forget about this odd conversation, but another part of me wanted to hear what Max and Fang had to say. They were persistent, and I thought if it was a joke they would have dropped the act long ago._

_"Because you are curious. Because a part of you knows that what we are saying is true. Because you knew something was different about you, but you couldn't quite place it." I stared at Fang. Not because I was about to snap at him, but because what he had said was true. He was right, I have long thought something was different about me, but I have always disregarded it. But now…_

_But there was still no way I was going to listen to them. I hadn't decided if I believed them or not; they just might be playing me. Besides, the part of me that was thinking logically thought that they had no proof. If they had some sort of proof, maybe I would believe them. Maybe._

_Then the little girl named Angel spoke directly to me. "Go home, Zanna. Go in your parents' room and search. You'll find the proof you need."_

_I was surprised at what Angel said. It was almost like she knew I wanted proof. I pushed that thought away, it was silly, even under the circumstances. Besides, I wouldn't go sneaking in my parents' room. We respected each other's privacy. My parents did not go in my room, and I didn't go in theirs. Snooping around in their room would be betraying their trust or something. I sound goody-goody, I know, but it's just how things are done at my house._

_"They are not your real parents," Angel said. I saw the sadness in her eyes, and I knew she must have thought that was true. But it wasn't true, was it? How could my parents not be my real parents? Did Angel mean I was adopted? But neither of my parents had ever hinted about me being adopted. It wasn't true, it just wasn't…_

_"Meet us at Starbucks at five if you find something," Max said. I was about to say something, but they were already leaving. I don't know how long I stood there, trying to process everything. When I finally did realize I was just standing in the middle of the sidewalk looking stupid, I started home, trying really hard to forget everything Max, Fang, and Angel had said._

I headed upstairs to my room, since I knew I was not going to get any homework done. I was still thinking of what Angel had told me, that my parents were not my real parents. And everything else those three had said. I couldn't tell if it was joke. I still half expected some cameras to pop out saying, "Gotcha you!" for some weird reality TV show. But then again, this was way too original for some silly joke, and plus I could think of many things that would be much funnier than this. Gradually, I started to consider that what Max, Fang, and Angel had said could be true. But even if it was true what could I do?

I found myself right by my parents' room. The door was closed. I hesitantly put my hand to the doorknob, but only to take it back off as if it was burning hot. I mentally argued what I should do. I could just go along my way and forget about Max, Fang, and Angel. But I knew I couldn't do that. I was curious; very, very curious. And the more I thought about it, something about my life, about _me_, felt wrong.

I knew I was going to look in my parents' room. Besides, I reasoned to myself, if what Max said was true, then these people weren't my parents. So I shouldn't feel bad about sneaking into some stranger's room, right? And if the people I have spent my whole life with (well, as long as I can remember) weren't my parents, than I think I had bigger problems to worry about besides being caught snooping in my parents' room. I still didn't know what to call the people I thought were my parents. I decided on using innocent until proven guilty as my reason for still calling Marissa and Benjamin my parents. And if this was a joke or something, and Marissa and Benjamin were my real parents, then I don't think they would be too mad under the circumstances. At the worst, I would be grounded for a couple weeks.

Overall, the most rational choice was to look in my parents' room. So that was the choice I made. I put my hand to the doorknob again, but this time grasping it and opening the door. I felt almost excieted, as weird as it may seem. I have always been one to go by the rules (okay, for the most part; I would occasionally toe the line, but I never crossed it). But now it felt like I was crossing one of those police tape thingies that say "Caution: Do Not Cross. Violators Will Be Prosecuted" or something like that. I guess it was just my teenage rebelliousness kicking in.

My parents' room was plain, like the rest of the house (excluding my room). It was kept just as tidy as usual, and everything in its place. Not even a single penny lay on the ground, breaking out of its assigned space. I first went to filing cabinet-type thing where I knew my parents kept some of their personal important papers that weren't in the study. I skimmed through the papers, finding nothing of interest. Old bills, report cards, social security information, and other odds and ends were in the cabinet; nothing that gave Max any proof of their argument.

But then I spotted something. It looked like there was a little, teeny-tiny button in one of the drawers. I couldn't just press it with my fingers, so I grabbed a pen from the desk. I pushed the pen onto the little button, and _pop_, a secret compartment was reviled.

Tentatively, I grabbed the papers. There weren't as many as in the non-secret drawers. One in particular caught my interest. It was a binder, a color purple almost similar to my eyes. It was titled _"Susanna Violet Morrison"_. It was my name. There were also a series of numbers on the binder, but I wasn't sure of the significance of them. I opened up the binder with sound of my rapidly beating heart.

I gasped when I opened to some random page. There were notes. Notes about my behavior. Notes about how I was doing academically, physically, and mentally. Most of the writing was typed, but there were a few handwritten notes scrawled on the side. I recognized the handwriting immediately. My mother's. Or, Marissa, I guess she really was to me now. I closed the binder, and looked at the other papers. There were two IDs. The names I hadn't heard of, but the faces I knew well. Angel was telling my truth. My parents aren't even my real parents. I didn't even know them by their real names!

So many emotions flowed through me. Shock. Anger. Sadness. Relief. Fear. Disappointment. Rage. It was overpowering. I don't ever remember feeling so many things at the same time. The emotions were so powerful; I had no clue what I would do if my so-called-parents walked into the room right now. I pushed those emotions out of my head. I couldn't deal with them now.

I glanced around the room. The laptop. I could see if there is any important information on the computer. I carefully put the papers back. One paper fell to the ground. I picked it up, and skimmed it. Tears started streaming down my face. It was a certificate of adoption. This proved everything was Max, Fang, and Angel had said was true. It proved my life was nothing but a lie. I read it carefully, seeing if I could find the names of my real, birth parents, but it didn't mention their names. I decided to keep this paper with me. I carefully folded the paper and put it into my pocket.

I wiped the tears from my eyes, gaining self control once again. I went to the laptop, and turned it on. It wasn't completely off, just in hibernation. I didn't know the password, but I was able to figure it out fairly quickly. I was pretty good with computers. When the computer loaded, I found that a program was already running. I didn't recognize the program, but I t looked high tech as far as websites go. I wasn't sure if I would be able to hack into it like I had with my-so-called-parents' laptop.

Luckily, though, I didn't have to. Someone was already signed on. I looked at what one of my-so-called-parents were up to before they left. On the top of the page it said in big, bold letters, "The Perfect Human Project". I read on for more information.

According to whatever program this was, "The Perfect Human Project" was an experiment to create a perfect human. I thought it was crazy. A perfect human? I recalled something I had heard once before. "If people were meant to be perfect, they wouldn't make pencils with erasers." That brought a tiny smile to my face.

I read on, soaking up as much information as I could. Most of the scientific stuff I didn't understand. But I understood enough. At a place called the School, scientists were attempting to create a superior human being. The School rang a bell, though. Oh, Max briefly mentioned it. I kept on reading. Pretty much what I got from those pages I read was this: A group of crazy, mad scientists are trying to engineer a perfect human. Such a perfect human would be superior to the current humans in pretty much every way. Their senses would be enhanced, their muscles stronger, their bones lighter and firmer, their organs more efficient, their brains much more evolved, and their intelligence much higher. It even mentioned that some of those perfect humans would have special abilities. Very special abilities, like ESP (extra sensorial perception for those of who aren't science geeks like me). Those perfect humans might be able to read minds, move objects, control forms of energy, heal themselves, and much, much more. I am not entirely sure how they would do this, but I do know that it all has to do with genetic engineering, and not the kind with plants. I guess the scientists would take out the certain genetic traits of other species and mix it with human DNA. So these "perfect humans" aren't even entirely human! And it said that the human DNA was much more evolved than regular _homo sapiens_ (that's the scientific term for modern day humans). It seemed like these perfect humans would be like what Neanderthals are to us; just a stupid, less evolved species that will one day fade from the planet. I don't know about you, but I didn't think it was too smart of those scientists to create evolved humans. What if they wiped out all the humans that weren't as evolved as them?

I clicked on a link that said "_See List Experiments"_. What I saw on that page shocked me more than anything I had seen so far that day, even my adoption certificate.

I saw some numbers followed by an A.K.A. Susanna Violet Morrison with a picture of me next to it. A picture of me, I feel inclined to add, which wasn't very good. If they were going to post a picture of me on this program, couldn't they have chosen a better one? I smiled, at the thought. Even though I was in a horrible identity crisis, I still managed to keep a sense of humor and a sense of style.

Of course I clicked on my name. I didn't even bother to read any of the other names on the list. At the moment I was more interested in what it had to say about me. As the screen uploaded, I saw my name and those numbers again, as well as that horrible picture. There was a little summary at the top. I didn't understand practically any of it.

I scrolled down, stopping at random places. There was a picture of me, around five years old. There was all sorts of technical stuff written on the pages, I understood only very little of it. There was a record of how I did during various tests; tests I don't even remember taking. I skipped to another page. There were diagrams which I had no clue were about. On another page were details about my DNA (or at least that's what it looked like).

I didn't understand much of anything that I read. But one thing I understood all too well. I was an experiment. I wasn't even human. I was created to be a perfect human. I didn't understand how I couldn't have known before, but it made sense. Too much sense.

I glanced at the time. It was quarter past four already. Max said to meet them at Starbucks at five if I found something. I printed some of the pages that seemed important, and put the computer back on the same screen I found it. I scanned the room, making sure there I left no evidence that I had been in there. I walked out of the room and closed the door. I went into my room.

I decided that I should prepare a bag or something in case I needed to leave quickly. Marissa and Benjamin were no doubt working for those scientists. I wanted to make sure I had some things in order in case they came to get me or something. I wasn't sure if I was just being paranoid, but better safe than sorry, I thought.

I started searching for a bag of some sort, a bag that would be big enough put clothes and stuff, but still easy to carry if I was on the run. I found an old bag I took camping years ago. That would do just fine.

I opened my closet, thinking of what clothes to put in the bag. When I looked at my big closet, I wasn't sure what clothes to throw in there. The bag was fairly big for a bag, but compared to the closet it was tiny. I wanted to pack some of my favorite outfits, but I decided against it. I would need clothes that were practical. So in the end I packed two pairs of jeans, a pair of sweat pants, and a pair of shorts, with four shirts, plus socks, underwear, and a bra. I tossed in an extra brush and other supplies. I found a lighter in the house, and put that in the bag too. It might be useful. I had my credit card, but I didn't want to depend on it. Just a single call and I could be cut off. So I grabbed most of my cash, around a hundred dollars or so. I knew my father kept some extra money in a place he thought only he knew about, so I grabbed another hundred fifty plus there. There was still a little room in the bag, so I put a sweatshirt. I would have my jacket with me now, so I didn't have to worry about that.

I looked at a clock for the time. It was four thirty five. Wow, I didn't know I could pack that quickly! Usually, when I would go somewhere it would take me hours to figure out what to pack. But I guess since I wasn't packing for a vacation or a sleepover, but for what may turn out to be running for my life, I was able to concentrate on what I really did need. I quickly changed into my favorite pair of jeans and a simple shirt with a hoodie over it, just in case.

I grabbed the bag I had packed and headed downstairs. Surprisingly, it wasn't heavy at all. I set down the bag and put on my jacket. I grabbed the bag again as well as my purse (I had put the papers I printed in there). I thought it would be a good idea to hide it somewhere, just in case I couldn't even go home for some reason. I knew of the perfect, secret place to hide the bag. You are probably wondering, where, where? But the point is to hide the bag in a secret place, and the place wouldn't be secret if you knew where it was and if you knew where the place was the bag wouldn't be hidden. See? I could be very logical even during times like this (although I'm not sure what I mean by "times like this").

After safely hiding the bag, I headed towards Starbucks. It was only a few blocks away, but I would make it on time. I spent the walk thinking everything through. I was still trying to digest everything. It was hard, especially because so many feelings kept popping through the emotional barrier I was trying to make. I didn't have time to think about my feelings. I couldn't think that my life was a lie. That I wasn't even entirely human…

I arrived at Starbucks practically right on time. I took a deep breath, and walked in. There was no telling what would happen next…

**I hope you liked it.... Last night I was multitasking writing this and I watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with my little sisters. Awww. I love this movie. It's so cute. But I do understand the Grinch (call me a Sroodge if you wish), the Who's singing is annoying after awhile. Now I'll get to listen to my sistsers singing those songs for who knows how long. But still, it's gotta be better than "Fly On The Wall". I have heard this song over and over and over and over etc. today alone. I don't know if I actually be able to write the next chapter anytime soon 'cause I'm going to have a private concert with my sisters singing thier fave songs. Happy December! (Reviews are greatly appreciated... Hint. Hint.)**


	5. Dealing With the Truth

**Disclaimer: I do not own MR, James Patterson does. I am not in the mood to put some sarcastic comment in since this stupid computer keeps making reupload this for some stupid reason. Ughh! I hate computes during times like this.**

Chapter Four

_Max's POV_

I was surprised at Fang; somehow he had gotten the girl, or Zanna I guess her real name is, to listen to us. Well, him and Angel. After talking to Zanna, we pretended to start walking the other way, but we actually followed her to her house. And that house is freaking ginormous! But of course it made sense that a Whitecoat or someone working with them would want to live large. Fang, Angel, and I stayed a careful distance away because with our raptor vision we could see all sorts of security sensors.

So for the remainder of the time we just watched the house… and that's about it. It was terribly boring, so I'll spare you the details. Finally Zanna came out of the house with her purse and an extra bag. Of course we followed Zanna the rest of the way, and she hid that bag in between some bushes it looked like that.

Zanna looked back a couple of times and I thought she might have noticed us, but she would just keep on going. Zanna arrived at the Starbucks right on time. Fang, Angel, and I were going to wait a couple minutes. Angel had already told Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy to be there before hand, and to _blend in_. I just hoped those three would at least try to be inconspicuous.

After five long minutes, Fang spoke up. "Should we go in now Max?"

I nodded, and the three of us walked into the semi-crowded Starbucks. I surveyed the room. I spotted Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy and nodded at them. They weren't doing to bad of a job blending in. And then I saw Zanna, sitting alone at a table, skimming through some papers.

I walked up to Zanna, with Fang and Angel following. I sat directly across from Zanna, with Fang on my right and Angel on my left. We sat down across from Zanna silently. For awhile no one said a word, until I, with the original Max charm, said out of the blue, "I take it you found something or else you wouldn't be here."

Zanna closed her eyes for a moment, and the softly answered, "Yes." There was none of the fire behind her eyes now like there had been earlier. "I found a journal hidden in a secret compartment in my-so-called-parent's drawer. It had my name on it along with a bunch of numbers. The writing inside the journal was all about me, but written in my-so-called-mother's handwriting."

Wow. I didn't expect Zanna to tell us anything, but here she is telling us what she found without us proding her. I thought back to what Zanna had said. What could I possibly say to her. It must be horrible to find out your parents aren't your real parents and the people you have been living with were only there to write down their observations on their "subject". Even without the parents thing, it would be difficult to find out that you aren't even 100% human and just a test subject worth little more than a lab rat.

"I'm sorry," I said, surprising everyone at the table. What, couldn't a mutant freak girl comfort another mutant freak girl? Zanna's eyes were wide at first, but quickly returned to normal. She did smile a small smile at me though.

"This is really happening isn't it? This isn't a practical joke, balloons are not going to come flying out from the ceiling or anything like that, right?" Zanna asked softly.

"No," Fang said quietly. "This is all real."'

"What about you?" Zanna asked. "You were following me here, and besides that fact you three aren't anything like most of the kids around here… or anywhere."

"You knew we were there?" I blurted out. Zanna nodded. "The whole time?" Zanna nodded again.

"But you still haven't answered my question," Zanna said, her voice trailing. She seemed in deep thought for awhile before she spoke again. "You guys are like me… you are experiments too, aren't you?"

My mouth fell slightly agape. How did she know that? Before I could answer, Angel replied, "Yep. We're experiments too, but not quite like you."

I was about to ask Angel what she was thinking (in my mind of course), but she answered my unasked question first. _It's okay, Max. Everything she has said has been the truth. And she doesn't know anything about Itex, besides what she's read today._

I was still wary of Zanna, but I trusted Angel more. _Okay, thanks Angel. _I felt Angel leave my mind, and decided to break the awkward silence. "So what else did you find that made you believe us?" I asked, because I highly doubted that some journal prompted Zanna to meet us here.

Zanna was quiet for a short time. "I found ID's with my so-called-parents pictures, but different names. A birth certificate with a different name on it," said Zanna, her voice soft and starting to break. "And on their computer, there were all sorts of information on some project, the Perfect Human Project. There was a list of experiments, and my name and those numbers."

I, for once, was speechless. But I didn't needed to say anything, for Zanna spoke up first. "I'm sorry."

I was surprised, and Fang was too. "For what?" "Not believing you at first," was her simple reply.

"You said you found stuff on their computer, right?" I asked her, making sure I heard her correctly before, and a plan formulating in my mind. If we could get to the computer, we could look for everything about Itex, about us.

"Yes," Zanna said, looking confused. "Why?"

"We can look up stuff about Itex…" I replied, letting my voice trail off. Understanding dawned on her face.

"Okay, I can show you the program, since I didn't log off. And my ex-parents are gone for the rest of the week," Zanna said, grabbing her stuff.

"Okay, that would be great," I said. It was exciting to think in just an hour or so we would know everything about Itex, their locations, their plans, and more importantly- us. We ditched the whole finding our parents thing, but that program might tell us more about our DNA. Like if we will develop more powers, or if we have an expiration date. This was a chance we couldn't pass up.

And Zanna said her Itex/School scheming ex-parents will be gone for the rest of the weekend. It was a little risky, but I deemed it appropriate to take the risk.

"Meet us outside," I said. "Then you'll get to meet the rest of my family." If Zanna thought it was odd that I was going to show her the rest of my "family", she didn't show it.

"Okay," Zanna simply replied, getting up from her seat and heading towards the door. "I can't wait to meet the rest of your family." Wow, was she in for a big surprise.

**Hope you liked this chapter. Reviews are greatly appreciated, as per usual. They are helpful, since after next chapter I am going to decide rather to continue with this story or move on to a new one. If I know readers actually like it, I will probably continue, if not... Anyways, the next chapter will have action...**


	6. Meeting The Family

**Disclaimer: opposite of claimer; meaning I own nothing.**

Chapter Five: Meeting the Family

_Zanna's POV_

I walked out of Starbucks with Max, Fang, and Angel. My whole body felt numb. I could barely comprehend what was happening. This morning, I had woken up as a regular fifteen year old girl; going to school, hanging out with friends, watching TV, spending endless hours on the computer, getting grounded occasionally by my parents… But now I was none of that. All of that was a lie. My parents weren't even my parents. I was an experiment, something cooked up in a laboratory. Heck, I wasn't even completely _human_!

I followed Max, Fang, and Angel; not paying attention to where we were going. When we stopped, I realized that we were in the park. There were three other kids sitting on the benches, waiting. Waiting for us, I guessed.

"Okay, Zanna," Max began, "this is the rest of the Flock." Max gestured to the three other kids. My eyebrows rose slightly at the "Flock", but I decided it wasn't something worth asking about (at least not right now).

"I'm Zanna," I said politely to the group of kids in front of me.

"Zanna?" a young boy with blondish hair asked.

I smiled a small smile. My name always brought up questions. It was an odd name; not as odd as theirs, I'm guessing… but still odd.

"It's short for Susanna," I explained. "But I don't like that name at all. So all my friends call me Zanna."

"Cool," a tall guy that was probably around the same age as Max, Fang, and I said. I noticed that he had been sitting in Starbucks, in a table with a brown-skinned girl and the boy with the blondish hair.

"You guys were in Starbucks with us," I stated. Everybody looked surprised at that. What, was I supposed to not have known? I had a great memory, and had always been good with details. Probably part of the whole "perfect human" thing, I added sourly in my mind.

"You saw us?" the dark-skinned girl asked.

"Yeah," I said, shrugging. "I'm good at noticing things."

Max cleared her throat and everybody's attention snapped towards her. "Anyways, Zanna," she said, "you already know me and Angel and Fang." Then she gestured towards the tall boy with the reddish hair, "that's Iggy," Max said, "Nudge," Max pointed towards the other girl, "and Gazzy," gesturing towards the blonde haired boy.

Well, I guess I was right. Their names were odder than mine. I nodded and said, "Pleased to meet you." I was surprised at myself. My mother (my ex-mother, I reminded myself) had always pushed my manners. So under these strange circumstances I remembered all her lessons, but not at the teas she would arrange with all her friends from work (who were probably all scientists, know that I think of it).

I wasn't the only one surprised by my politeness, for Iggy said, "Wow. This one's got manners," with a low whistle. I glared at him.

Max must have noticed, because she said, "It's not worth it, Iggy's blind." I stopped glaring at Iggy, but I didn't apologize or anything. Why should I apologize to for glaring to a blind kid who had insulted me? Although Iggy might not have meant it as an insult, though.

"Do you have any cool superpowers?" the boy, Gazzy asked.

I wasn't really sure how to answer. "Uh, no," I said, confused. "Do you?" I asked. There must have been a reason why Gazzy had asked if I had 'superpowers'. One would be that he expected me to have some (which was possible, considering I was suppose to be a 'perfect human') or they had 'cool superpowers'.

"Aw," Gazzy said, clearly disappointed.

"I can sense emotions and am really good with computers and cars and am magnetic!" Nudge said super quickly, I was hardly able to keep up. I thought I heard Max groan. "And Fang can turn invisible and Gazzy can mimick noises and he and Iggy build bombs," I opened my mouth to say something about that one. I mean, bombs? But Nudge kept talking, "and Angel can read minds and sometimes control them and breathe under water and change her appearance and Max can fly super, super fast!" I swear Nudge said that all in one breath. It took a second to take in all that information. I was pretty sure that they were telling the truth. After everything I had seen today, I didn't think anything could surprise me now.

"Fly?" I finally asked.

"Uh, yeah," Max said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "We're avian-hybrids."

I blinked in surprise. They had said that they were experiments, too, but avian-hybrids? I mean they had _bird_ DNA fused within their human DNA? I tried to think of the politest way possible to ask what effects the avian DNA had. Finally, I just asked, "Sorry to be so blunt, but what exactly can you do with the avian DNA? Nudge said that you could fly," I added the last part, thinking over what Nudge had said.

"Yeah, we can fly," Max said, with a hint of some emotion, but I couldn't quite tell.

"Wow," was all I had to say. I wasn't surprised (well I was, but not like 'oh my gosh! I can't believe it!' kind of surprised) since Max had kind of already given me hints about them.

There was silence for a moment, although it didn't last long. "What do we do next?" I asked. I really needed more time to digest all this information, but Max and her 'flock' wanted to look at the information stored on my ex-parents computer.

Max seemed to think it through for a moment, and then said, "Fang and I will go scout out your house-"

"Scout out my house?" I interrupted. It was rude of me, I know. But why did they want to scout out my house?

"Yes. Did you forget that you're living with a bunch of crazy scientists that pretended to be your parents your whole life and want to do experiments on you?" Max boldly asked.

"No," I snapped back. I felt bad for snapping at Max. For the most part, she has been pretty nice to me… I mean at least she told me about my parents. But it was just that I didn't needed to be reminded of the fact that my parents weren't my parents and so on. "Sorry," I apologized. "It's just a lot to take in, you know?" None of the Flock said anything, so I guess they didn't know. "But why do you need to scout out my house?"

"To make sure there aren't a bunch of Erasers and Flyboys swarming all over the place," Fang said as simply as possible.

"Erasers? Flyboys?" I asked. I felt so naive. I had no idea of the enemy I was facing.

"Erasers are human-lupine hybrids; they can morph into wolves," Max explained. "And flyboys are robots, but are still highly dangerous."

"Okay," I said, nodding and taking in the new information.

"Good," Max said. "Now how 'bout Angel, Fang and I go and scout out your house?"

There was a chorus of "I wanna come!"s from Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy.

"No," Max said, in her leaderly tone. "I'm going 'cause I'm the leader, Fang because he the second best fighter" Fang gave Max a look I couldn't quite decipher at that, "and can turn invisible and Angel because she can sense their minds."

"If there's anybody there," I added.

"If there's anybody there," Max confirmed, but by the look on her face she expected someone, or something, to be there.

"What about me?!" a tiny voice piped from the bag Iggy was carring. This time I definitely heard Max groan. Angel ran towards Iggy, who took the bag off his back, and opened it. To my surprise, a black Scottie dog came out.

"Did he just…" I let my voice trail off.

"What about me?" the same voice repeated. I could have sworn it was coming from the dog. "I asked for a White Chocolate Mocha, and what do I get? Nothing. Not a thing. That's okay, I'm just the _dog_." I was pretty sure my lips were in a perfect O shape by now.

"Sorry, Total," I heard Angel say.

"Zanna, this is Total…" Max began, "Our talking dog."

Okay, I was wrong when I said nothing could surprise me now. A talking dog definitely surprised me. I was pretty sure if I let my jaw drop any lower, it'd hit the ground. Wow, flying bird kids, little mind-reading girls, talking dogs, evil robots… what would be next? I just hoped I would be able to handle whatever was coming. Because somehow I knew that if I didn't, it would be bad for everyone (as cliché as it sounds). Very bad.

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**Okay, I lied. This chapter doesn't have any action... but the next chapter will. That's only beause I am making my chapters shorter so I can update more often. Sorry for not updating in such a long time, but I've been working more on "Maxamorphosis". The deal on the last chapter still stands. After this chapter, if I don't get a decent amount of reviews with imput on my story, I'm gonna call this one quits. I don't really want to stop, but if nobody is reading this story, I don't see any reason to continue typing it (I can see it all play out in my mind). SO PLEASE REVIEW!!! And thanks to all those who have already reviewed. And thanks to those who are checking this story out because they read my other ones (and if this is the first story of mine you're reading, I have four other Maximum Ride fanfics out). I'm probably not going to update again super soon, since I'm going to work on updating my other stories. Anyways, thanks for reading! And please let me know what you think. PLEASE!!! [Angel and Nudge give you Babmi eyes]**

**Random Quotes/ Smiles of the Day :D**

"I'd rather be a could-be

if I cannot be an are;

because a could-be

is a maybe who is reaching for a star.

I'd rather be a has-been

than a might-have-been,

by far;

for a might have-been

has never been,

but a has was

once an are." -Milton Berle

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